Global Warming and Hurricanes

18

Conclusion

The present state of knowledge does not seem to enable us to make reliable predictions as to the incidence and intensity of hurricanes nor does it reliably correlate any kinship between hurricanes and global warming. In spite of such a state of uncertainty, there seems to be a consensus of opinion that the global warming probably does not have much bearing on the frequency of the hurricanes, although it does intensify them. Should it then be assumed that global warming is not such a big deal on which we should lose our sleep? Certainly not. One Katrina can cause much greater havoc than that caused by a combination of several hurricanes of lower intensities. Thus, although frequency of hurricanes of lower intensities is a serious concern, it is not as grave as their intensity. If a link between global warming and the intensity of hurricanes exists factually, it is in the interest of humanity to control global warming.

And also hurricanes are not the only severe consequence of global warming; it can also cause devastating flooding, climate changes that may be unbearable, drought and famines. So global warming is injurious to human life in more than one way.

I shall end this article with the opening line of Kerry Emmanuel’s above quoted paper:

“Theory and modeling predict that hurricane intensity should increase with increasing global mean temperatures, but work on the detection of trends in hurricane activity has focused mostly on their frequency.” Further work is required for fine-tuning our understanding of the intrinsic physics of the hurricanes and the effects of global warming in causing and accentuating them.